654 



Hooker's 'English Flora,' our text-book for British cryptogamous Bo- 

 tany. On referring to Gray's Natural Arrangement, T found the de- 

 scription of an ^Ecidium that in some respects answers to mine, of 

 which 1 could secure but three specimens, as the season for it appear- 

 ed to be nearly over. The following is Gray's description. — 



'■'■ JEcidium aspmfoliarum. Tliecse confluent, wine-glass . shape, half immersed, 

 pale yellow; sporidia yellowish white, ^cidium asperifolicB, DC. Syn. 50. On the 

 lower face of various Boraginese. Leaves hollowed on the upper face." 



My notes are as follows : — 



jEcidium ? Spots yellowish, disfiguring and incrassating the leaves. Pseu- 



do-peridia generally hypogynous, sometimes amphigenous, more or less confluent : 

 sporidia orange. On Lycopsis arvensis. Thame, August 24, 1842. 



I am uncertain whether the difference in the colour of the sporidia 

 will constitute a new species ; in other respects it agrees pretty well 

 with DeCandoUe's.— PA. B. Ai/res, M.D.; Thame, Feb. 22, 1843. 



272. Note on the Fniit of UmbellifercB. Before I close my note I 

 wash to make a remark on the discussion in your journal concerning 

 the poisonous properties of the seeds of Umbelliferge. Lindley's state- 

 ment is copied from DeCandolle's Essay on the Medical Properties of 

 Plants, and DeCandolle is certainly in error. T think the most accu- 

 rate view on this subject is, that those seeds in which vittse are pre- 

 sent are innocuous, while those which have no vittae are either suspi- 

 cious or poisonous. In the former, the proper juice of the plant is 

 converted into volatile oil ; in the latter, it is merely deposited in a 

 more concentrated form. — Id. 



273. Note on Gigartina compressa. My attention having been di- 

 rected to some remarks on the Jusna or Ceylon moss, by M. Guibourt 

 of Paris (Provincial Medical Journal for February, 1843, No. 128), I 

 am induced to trouble you with some observations made by me on 

 this plant many years since, when it occurred in considerable abun- 

 dance at Sidmouth, as they agree so entirely with those of M. Gui- 

 bourt, that there can be no doubt of their identity. The species in 

 question is the Fucus lichenoides of Turner, described and figured in 

 his ' Historia Fucorum,' ii. 124, t, 118; the Gracilaria lichenoides of 

 Greville's ' Cryptogamic Flora,' p. 125, from specimens and a drawing 

 of the recent plant, communicated by me from Sidmouth, Fucus li- 

 chenoides of Linn. &c. Subsequently, finding it agree with Sphsero- 

 coccus compressus of Agardh, and that the term lichenoides was 

 preoccupied and inappropi'iate. Dr. Greville named it Gracilaria com- 

 pressa in his ' British Alga3 ; ' and it is now Gigartina compressa of 

 Hooker's 'British Flora,' 299, Harvey's 'Manual of British Algae,' 74, 



